Comments from Karen, Irish, 21 yrs old

Soul cravings is an amazing book that looks into the deep longings of our souls. It talks about intimacy with Jesus, our destiny and finding meaning in life. I got so much out of this book, but two things really struck me...

...firstly, Erwin talks about how we are uncomfortable with how God loves us. We want him to love us for a number of good reasons but at the same time we feel nervous before him because he sees everything that isn't lovely in us. God tells us he loves us unconditional but we know whats unlovely in us and wonder how we are worthy of this love. This worries us because we know we are not worthy...so we run from God. We run to escape our own sense of unworthiness and because we feel that the closer we get to God, then the more guilt we will feel.

          "It's just too hard to believe that if you come near to God, you will find yourself not drowning in

           condemnation, but swimming in compassion. Jesus called to all who were weary and who found

           souls exhausted to come to Him and find rest. He is telling us that God will be for us our place called

           home. We run from God because we long to be loved and we have convinced ourselves that the One

           who is most loving could not and would not embrace us.

           We run from the One our souls crave."

This book also talks about how our souls crave progress and how we need to believe in the future and be ambitious because to lack ambition is to become complacent. We often think it's Gods job to fix everything. We ignore our responsibility while waiting on God to do something. This has created a spirituality that lacks initiative and engagement... and this goes against how God created us to be.  God has created us to meet needs, engage and get involved in our world. He made us creative and expects us to act.  

God has really used this book to speak to me about these things and many other things that are dealt with in this book and i'd definitely recommend it!    

Further comments from Naomi, Irish, 21 yrs old.    

I agree with Karen about how good this book is. God also spoke to me through it. For many of us unconditional love is a concept that is too hard to understand. We are more comfortable with the idea that love is conditional, that we can earn it, that it is in our control. We can feel that we have to do or be something for God to love us. God says that we dont have to earn His love or strive for it, He has bestowed it upon us. His love for us is everlasting and nothing we can do can change His love for us!

                 "This is the story of Jesus, that God has walked among us and he pursues us with his love.

                  He is very familiar with rejection but is undeterred. And he is here even now, still pursuing you

                  with his love."

Erwin also talks about how our souls crave meaning. Our souls long for truth. We live in a time where we are surrounded by many different belief systems. Where once people searched for truth, we are now creating our own. However, Jesus tells us that He is the truth. When we truly seek truth we will find God. Our souls crave to know the One who is true.   

               "Truth isn't something you conclude;

                 truth is something you become"

                "When we are immersed in what is true, we begin to experience wholeness and health" 

I love how real McManus is in this book. He uses his own experiences along with biblical truths to show how we all long for intimacy, destiny and meaning.